South Carolina Basketball: 3 thumbs up, 3 thumbs down from Gamecock win over Vanderbilt
By Kevin Miller
According to national college basketball pundit Jon Rothstein, "The dream season continues" for South Carolina basketball. Gamecock fans, though, may want to argue with Mr. Rothstein a bit because there is nothing dreamlike about Lamont Paris' squad. No, the Gamecocks are really good this season, and playing against them is more akin to a nightmare.
The trend continued on Saturday as USC won their seventh straight game to move to 21-3 (9-2 in SEC play). Their latest victim, the Vanderbilt Commodores, made a lot of difficult shots in the 1st half and actually held a 4-point lead heading into the halftime intermission.
The 2nd half was a different story, however, as Collin Murray-Boyles and BJ Mack led the way for a 19-point advantage after play resumed. The freshman Murray-Boyles was dominant, scoring 31 points on 14-17 shooting, pulling down 7 rebounds (including 6 on offense!), and having the second-biggest block of the season (behind another one of his rejections that came at the end of the Ole Miss win). Mack made 5 3-pointers, shooting 5-9 from outside.